| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Allegory | A form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy. |
| Analogy | comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship. The key is to ascertain the relationship between the first so you can choose the correct second pair. Part to whole, opposites, results of are types of relationships you should find. |
| Archetype | The usage of any object or situation as it was originally made - think of it as the biggest cliché ever, but one that never dies. |
| Conflict | The struggle found in fiction. It may be internal or external and is best seen in (1) Man in conflict with another Man: (2) Man in conflict in Nature; (3) Man in conflict with self. |
| Connotation | an implied meaning of a word. |
| Denotation | Denotation is the literal meaning of a word, the dictionary meaning |
| Diction | A writer's or speaker's choice of words |
| Euphemism | the substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener;[1] or in the case of doublespeak, to make it less troublesome for the speaker. It also may be a substitution of a description of something or someone rather than the name, to avoid revealing secret, holy, or sacred names to the uninitiated, or to obscure the identity of the subject of a conversation from potential eavesdroppers. |
| Point of view | the perspective from which the writer tells the story (1st, 2nd, 3rd person; omniscient, limited omniscient) |
| Plot | the series of related events that make up a story |
| Flashback | action that interrupts to show an event that happened at an earlier time which is necessary to better understanding. |
| Foil | a character that contrasts another character, often the protagonist, that therefore highlights certain qualities of the protagonist. |
| Foreshadowing | the use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen later in literature. |
| Hyperbole | exaggeration or overstatement. |
| Imagery | language that evokes one or all of the five senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching. |
| Irony | an implied discrepancy between what is said and what is meant. |
| Metaphor | comparison of two unlike things using the verb "to be" and not using like or as as in a simile. |
| Motif | A recurrent thematic element in an artistic or literary work; A dominant theme or central idea. |
| Oxymoron | putting two contradictory words together. |
| Paradox | a kind of truth which at first seems contradictory. Two opposing ideas. |
| Satire | A literary tone used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or weakness, often with the intent of correcting, or changing, the subject of the satiric attack. |
| Setting | determining Time and Place in fiction. |
| Simile | the comparison of two unlike things using like or as. |
| Symbol | using an object or action that means something more than its literal meaning. |
| Theme | the general idea or insight about life that a writer wishes to express. All of the elements of literary terms contribute to this. |
| Syntax | The pattern or structure of word order in sentences, clauses and phrases. |
| Tone | the attitude a writer takes towards a subject or character: serious, humorous, sarcastic, ironic, satirical, tongue-in-cheek, solemn, objective. |
| Tragedy | A work in which the protagonist, a person of high degree, is engaged in a significant struggle and which ends in ruin or destruction |
| Understatement | the opposite of exaggeration. It is a technique for developing irony and/or humor where one writes or says less than intended. |
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